Water Quality

This management plan, one of a series of river-segment plans prepared to fulfill the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, was intended to develop an implantation strategy for improving water quality in the Blue Earth River subbasin o f the Minnesota River. The plan includes a description of the area (location and boundaries, water-quality classification), point-source discharges (municipal, industrial, and livestock feedlot), and an abatement schedule for noncompliant dischargers. A river-segment map is appended.

This study was intended to provide technical information needed to identify sources of nonpoint pollution to the Minnesota River, so that a waste load allocation study could be conducted accurately for the metropolitan segment. The report includes a description of the study area (e.g., physical characteristics, land use, and climate), study methodology (e.g., sampling), and data analysis (e.g., water-quality violations, streamflows). Study data and chart are appended.

Providing a summary of the Minnesota River Assessment Project, this publication includes a brief background of the study, river issues addressed (such as water quality and pollutants), study results, conclusions, and recommendations. The full report consists of four volumes.

Executive Summary

This document provides a broad overview of basin planning and management in the Minnesota River Basin. In addition to information on the basin management process and its potential role in improving water quality, extensive background is provided on: the river basin (e.g., physical characteristics, origins, tributaries, and wetlands), impacts of historical settlement (e.g., agriculture, drainage), current land use trends, major watersheds, ecoregions, water resources, monitoring, water pollution sources, and environmentally sensitive and culturally significant areas.